


Goodbye

by PsYcHoLoGiCaLdArK



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Grian has a lot wrong with him, Griangst, I'd throw him off a bridge as soon as i got the chance, Implied shipping? but not really, Iskall gets to punch Sam. as a treat, Kingdom of Valor - Freeform, Kingdom of Valor refrences, KoV - Freeform, Sam is a disgusting human being, Samgladiator angst, This series is messed up i dont recomend watching it, its my treat, minecraft rp, to me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:20:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25606504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsYcHoLoGiCaLdArK/pseuds/PsYcHoLoGiCaLdArK
Summary: All's well that ends well on the Hermitcraft server.But what happens when an all too familiar face shows up unannounced?
Comments: 116
Kudos: 364





	1. Beginning

Nothing had been off when he went to bed. He had stayed by his bed until night properly fell, and jumped straight into it. He had just been building his little town, humming happy tunes to himself before hand. 

  


So one could imagine his surprise when he woke up unable to see even a inch in front of his own face. 

  


Bdubs went dead quiet, a small mumble of ‘oh no’ leaving his lips. He slowly stood up, fumbling around for his communicator. He knew he had text to speech enabled onto it, so it be easy to call for help. If only he could find it. He didn’t know what was going on, who did this even. He swore on everything that was holy that blindness wasn’t a potion someone could make and inflict on others. Besides, why would anyone on the server do that to him? 

  


Okay. Scratch that. Maybe Doc would. But they had a truce!! He didn’t do anything to the other in months! 

  


His foot caught a stray board, and he yelled as he fell over. He heard someone laughing. “Hello?? Who’s there?? Doc?? Keralis??” Bdubs yelled, standing up slowly. “Someone?? Help me! I can’t see I don’t know what happened!” He yelled out again, getting up on two feet and waving his arms around to hopefully lean on a wall or something. His open palm connected with warm skin, and he yelped, falling backwards. 

  


“Uuh… Hi? Who are you?” Bdubs tried to laugh. He didn’t get an answer to his question. 

  


“Give me your communicator.” The person, man?, demanded. And Bdubs raised his hands, unsure of what was going on. 

  


“U-Uh I don’t have it on me. I take it off before going to bed.” He said. “I-It should be on the desk somewhere though.” He heard footsteps, and the light scraping of metal against wood as the person took his communicator. “W...Why do you need it? Who are you?” Bdubs asked, going to reach for his sword. 

  


“Oh simple really. You’re admin didn’t invite me here. And i want to check up on an old friend of mine.” The person’s voice was dark, as if promising danger. 

  


“Oh...well..um… I’m sure if you just talked to Suma he’d be glad to help you-” Bdubs was cut off by a sword against his chin, one that forced his head to tilt up. The person laughed, the sound giddy and haunting at the same time. 

  


“He won’t even know I’m here.” 

  


Bdubs gagged when the sword was suddenly thrust into his throat. His hands went to his neck, feeling warm blood dripping onto them. The person above him laughed, the sword being ripped from his neck and they left, leaving him to bleed out. He sat there, staring at nothing, as he gagged and coughed for air. He was just thankful the server wasn’t on hardcore mode. 

  


Right?

  


___

  


Grian had just been building into the early hours of the morning, flying around his upside down home and struggling to not;

  


  1. Fall into lava.
  2. Get killed by a ghast. 



  


And so far, he had been rather successful. He landed on top of one of the little netherrack outcrops and stared at his handiwork with a small smile. “Alright. Now! Netherite King!” Grian wiped off some dust from his hands when his communicator buzzed. He let out a soft noise, knowing no one else should be awake at this ungodly hour. 

  
  
  
  
  


**_Bdouble100 was slain by Ş̷͎̳͓̰͓̲̙̝̪̰̰̖̲̤͎͎̦̘͓̞̭̮͚̳̺͛̒͌̽̄͊̈́͘͜͝͝͝ͅä̵̡̳͍̻̭̪́̆̏̍͛̿̏̅̅̔͗̽́͑̌̄̐̕̕͝͠͝ṁ̶̨̞̤̩̬͓͒͆̈́̊̾͛̽̀̋̿̔̌̄́̒̕͘̚͘̚͝͝͝g̵̨͇͕͇̖͉̱͈͔̰̣̺͚̦̱̭̦̊̅̆͂́̒̉̚͜͜͜͝͝l̴͙̝̼͂ͅa̵̡̛̛̛̹̰̖̬̙̩͛̿͑̉̌͊̈́͛̋̀͒̂͗̀̅͆͗̒̏̚͘͘͝͠͝ͅd̸̨̡̢͓̩̪̫̼̼̱̥̮̳̳͈̩̫͉̰̗̓͛͜i̶̢̨̛̤̮̰͙͍̾͐͑͋͒͌͛̎̾̽͆̈̑͂̚͜͝a̵̧̛̰̠̪̩̲͕̬̳̦̗͇̣̤͖̺̦̱͈͙̣̬̥̟͍͌͑̈̿̆̐̄̂̕̚͘̚͜ţ̸̡̨̡͍̜̥̥̝̝̹̘͍̬̥̳̺̲̺̫̬͚͙͓̓͐͆̍͒̽͋̔̆̀͗̎̾̂̾̋̄͂̄͆͑͛̈́͒̕͜͝ǫ̴͙̔͛̈́̓̏͆̈́͂̾̑͊̉͐̉͛͛͝r̵̭̞͙̤͙̳̤͎͉̦̭͈̺̫̙͂̅̏͒͑̅̌̈́͂̎͗̉̓͐͒̕͘͝͝ͅ_ **

  
  
  
  
  


Grian squinted at the last bit of text. “S...a...m..g..-” He suddenly went pale, dropping the torches he had been holding. “No. Nonononononono-” He suddenly was on his knees, unable to breathe as panic set into his chest. He covered his mouth with his hand, feeling tears slip down his face. “H-He can’t be back! How is he back?!” Grian wheezed in panic. “How is he here?!” Grian tugged at his hair, trying to calm down and think rationally. 

  


He took in a few deep breaths, and loosened up his elytra. He then took off towards the shopping district, blasting through rockets to get there as fast as he could. As he did so, he was spam messaging the rest of the hermits. 

  


**_Grian: send help_ **

**_Grian: Bbadguy onthe server_ **

**_Grian: dotnknwothow_ **

**_Grian: Shopping dirstirct_ **

  


Grian just flew through his ginormous nether tunnel, determined to just face this issue head on. The other Hermits had his back. He wasn’t alone now. He was worth something now. Not just some deranged wizard king. Not some  _ toy _ for Sam to play with anymore. He made sure he was wearing his netherite armor, at least everything besides his elytra. He landed right at the portal to the shopping district, pulling out his sword. 

  


“Alright. Lets… lets try this.” 

  


Grian stepped into the portal, where he saw a few other hermits were were groggily awake standing by the town hall. 

  


“Grian? What’s going on?” Iskall asked, yawning and scratching at his back. He had leaves in his hair. 

  


“Read the chat. Bdubs is dead.” Grian said, his voice raised a few octaves in his panic. Iskall did just that, with the other hermits; Xisuma, Tango, and Cleo, following suit. 

  


“Oh void. Who is that?” Cleo asked, yawning and squinting at her communicator. She sighed softly, taking some golden carrots from her inventory and chomping on them. 

  


“Its… someone I know.” Grian tried to smile, but that’s when Iskall caught it. 

  


Grian was shaking horrifically, his chest rising and falling in quick, anxious pants. His eyes were wide and he wasn’t keeping eye contact with anyone. It was easy to feel the fear that radiated off this poor man, and it was very clear  _ something  _ had happened between him and the new person on the server. 

  


“Grian? Are you okay?” Iskall asked, stepping a little closer to the smaller hermit. Grian flinched back a bit, clearly still in a panic mode. 

  


“U-Uh no. No i’m not. That. That guy. His name is Sam. He’s… something else.” Grian tried to laugh but it came out as scared. 

  


Xisuma was on his communicator, typing furiously as he tried to ban this new person. “How did he even get into this world? It’s white listed.” Xisuma muttered. 

  


“He’s an admin. L-Like us.” Grian stuttered out, his hands gripping at his bare arms until his nails dug into the flesh. He fell to his knees suddenly. “Oh void he-He wants me. Wants me dead. Wants me to replace Taurtis. I-He-” Grian gasped. And Tango was quick to drop down on his knees beside the other hermit, same as Iskall. 

  


“Hey buddy? Buddy? It’ll be okay! Suma will get them banned, you can maybe talk out your issues and maybe, if your lucky, we can go watch some ravagers chowin down on some gollums. Does that sound fun?”    
  


“That sounded so patronizing.” Iskall sighed. 

  


“How is it patronizing if im not even patriotic-?”

  


Grian laughed weakly, looking up towards Tango. “Can we feed  _ him _ to the ravagers before banning him?”

  


Tango laughed happily. “Man! Absolutely if it’ll make ya feel better! Maybe throw him in there a few times~” 

  


Iskall groaned. “Sumaaa… their talking about gore again-” He tried to hide a smile. 

  


“Um… bit of an issue here friends. It seems i can’t ban him.” Xisuma looked up, his eyes barely visible through his visor. 

  


“What do you mean ‘you cant ban him’?” Cleo asked, looking directly at him. 

  


“I mean, look at this.” He gestured for the other hermits to gather around him, which they quickly did. “Whenever I type in this,” Xisuma started to type. 

  


‘/ban Samgladiator’

  


But as soon as he hit enter, his screen glitched out and turned off. The small group of hermits took a collective deep breath. 

  


“Well. That can’t be good.” Tango said. 

  


“Oh void. Oh void. Shit. okay. Uh.” Grian gulped, before grabbing onto Iskall’s arm. “Iskall? Can. Can you promise me something?” He asked, his voice small. It drove a spike right through Iskall’s heart. 

  


“Yea G? What’s up?” Iskall looked down at the clearly frightened hermit. 

  


“Promise me he won’t drag me with him.” The strawberry blond hermit’s voice was shaking, tears in his eyes as he gripped onto Iskall’s arm. 

  


“I promise. Cyborg’s honor.” Iskall wrapped his arms around Grian tightly, letting him cry. Tango stepped behind them, wrapping the two up in a hug as well. 

  


“Yea bud! The only way you’d leave this server is over our dead bodies!” 

  


“Well that could be interesting.” 

  


The small group of hermits turned, and there they saw the player in question. 

  


It was a taller man, around 5’10 in height, with brown hair, pale skin, and most notably, bunny ears on his head. He was holding an iron sword, and he was grinning bloody murder. “And Gree-on, come on. Quit the crying. I know you’re so happy to see me!” The player, Sam, took a step forward. And Iskall stood between the two, netherite sword out and pointed at Sam. Iskall was glaring heavily, his larger frame fully blocking Grian from Sam’s view. 

  


“Get. Out.” Iskall growled. He felt Grian grip onto the back of his vest, before the grp was taken away, and he noticed Tango and Grian had taken off. 

  


“Gree-on! Get back here right now!” Sam growled, going to follow them before being stopped by Xisuma and Cleo. 

  


“Oh no you don’t. You are staying right here until we ban you.” Cleo said, using her certified Teacher Voice. Sam just smiled at her. 

  


“You know. I never did like a nosy women.” He said, and before anyone could stop him, and iron sword was thrown through Cleo’s chest. There was a pause, as if in shock, as Cleo slowly looked down at her chest. Before the three started to laugh. 

  


“Y-You haven’t noticed mate?!” Cleo laughed, pulling the sword from her chest. “I’m a  _ zombie _ . I can’t be hurt so easily.” She said. And Sam growled, his face flaring red in anger as the three strangers laughed at him. He pulled another sword from his inventory, slashing at whomever he could. 

  


Xisuma ducked out of the way, being 6’3 himself, he towered over the hostile player. He tackled Sam to the ground, hands around his throat. “What did you do to Bdubs?” Xisuma asked, his voice leaving no room for conversation. Sam growled, taking Xisuma’s wrist into his hands, his hips arching up and a leg throwing itself around Xisuma’s ankle before the two were flipped over, Sam driving a sword into Xisuma’s head. 

  


Iskall lunged at Sam as Xisuma’s body dissolved. Players were much easier to kill than mob hybrids. The two locked swords; with Sam slowly shrinking under Iskall’s force. He then grinned, kicking Iskall in the groin. Both of them groaned with pain, sinking down to the floor. 

  


“Idiots. All men are idiots.” Cleo sighed, walking over and collecting Xisuma’s stuff before grabbing Sam by his bunny ears. “Now. Talk.” She glared. Sam only laughed. 

  


“Void you’re hot.” 

  


“In you’re dreams playboy.” Cleo then took out her own sword, pressing it against his neck. “Now talk, before I make your head the upcoming feature at me zoo.” She threatened, and Sam slowly raised his hands. 

  


“Okay, okay. We can talk,” he said, a small smirk on his features as Iskall stood up slowly. 

  


“ _ What _ did you do to Grian?” Iskall asked, glaring at the smaller man. Sam just shrugged. 

  


“Gree-on? Well, I didn’t do anything he didn’t want to. Its not my fault what happened,” Cleo pressed the blade further into his neck, and he winced, fingers drumming against the stolen communicator. It was all too late before either of the remaining hermits realized that he was typing, not drumming. And he vanished suddenly. 


	2. Toon Towers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I've put a TW right before some bad stuff, so im sorry for breaking up the text with that, but other than that. 
> 
> Its Tango time.

Tango had grabbed Grian and flew as fast as he could to the Toon Towers, using up countless rockets. His main goal was to help keep Grian safe. Deep down he knew he and Grian weren’t the closest in the server, but he was still his friend! Tango landed on the Balcony of the Doof incorporated building, rushing inside. He couldn’t help but smile at the little jingle that rang out. He put Grian down, sitting at one of the chairs and putting his hands on Grian’s shoulders. 

“Buddy? We need to know what that guy did to ya okay? I’ll go get Impulse and Zedaph, you stay by me. Do you trust us?” Tango asked, trying to make his voice gentler than normal. He knew netherborns and normal players had different ways of life, and he wanted to make sure he didn’t upset the already rather emotional hermit. 

“Of course I do.” Grian smiled a little bit as Tango stood up again, walking up the stairs with Grian close behind. Tango started to take off his armor, grinning to himself. 

“And I already have a ingenious evil plan.” He did his evil laugh, and Grian chuckled as they got to the top floor, where Zedaph and Impulse were asleep on the floor. And Tango cleared his throat. 

“Team Zit meeting!” Tango called out, and the other two slowly sat up. 

“Tango? What’s up?” Impulse asked, yawning. “It’s still like four am.” 

“Its five, and we have an issue. Evil guy on the server, wants to hurt or take Grian away. I need help distracting said guy if he comes here long enough for him to get away.” 

“And what, exactly, is your plan?” Zedaph asked. 

“Oh its very simple…” Tango then started to quickly explain his plan. 

“That won’t work. No ones that stupid besides maybe you.” Zedaph chuckled and Tango mocked a look of offense. The four of them gasped as Sam appeared right beside Grian. 

“Oh hey Gree-on!” Sam smiled, grabbing the strawberry blonds arm. Tango was quick to throw his plan into action, slicing at Sam’s face with a sword as Impulse grabbed Grian’s other hand and pulled him away from the new player. “Oh you little-” Sam growled. “Enough of this! I’m just trying to get my friend back! We need to find Taurtis!” 

“YOU KILLED TAURTIS!” Grian yelled, and the room went quiet. “You killed Taurtis and. And let me get assaulted. And  _ mocked _ me for it! You are not my friend. These guys are.” Grian said, holding a sword in his hands. 

Tango snapped out of it, sucker punching Sam in the jaw before grinning at Zedaph. He ran off. “OH YOU ARE SO DEAD!” Sam yelled, chasing after the other. Impulse took this time to break out through the window with Grian, flying off towards Tango’s nether portal so they could get somewhere farther away. 

Tango ran, using his elytra to speed up his movements. “The hell is that?!” He heard Sam yell from behind him. He laughed, landing on a ledge to his building. 

“Come on bunny boy! What? Can’t catch me?” Tango taunted, watching Sam type into Bdubs communicator. He waited a few seconds before flying off, watching Sam appear where he had just been. He kept up this taunting behavior Until he got to the top of his buildings, right by his anvil launcher. He quickly took off his elytra and hid it in his inventory, letting out a loud groan as if it had broken. 

“No where to run now, huh?” Sam growled as he appeared behind Tango. He turned swiftly, sword out just in time to block one of Sam’s attacks. “Im going to enjoy watching you bleed.” Sam looked Tango in the eyes, “You damn freak.” 

Tango took a few steps backwards, luring Sam to just the right spot. He had his anvil cannons set up so usually they wouldn’t hit a person. But if you got right to the ledge, it might. He grinned as Sam slashed his sword. “Aww you can’t even fight can you?” Sam taunted. 

“Oh no I can fight. This will just be way funnier.” Tango said, and he heard a piston going off. His leg folded under him, arms flying out above his head as he did what others would call a ‘death drop’. Sam was about to open his mouth when an anvil came flying out of his anvil thrower. It collided with Sam’s face and set him flying to the ground. 

**Samgladiator was squished to death whilst fighting TangoTek.**

Tango laughed hysterically, rolling onto his stomach and slamming his fist into the building under him. “Oh mY VOID THAT WORKED!” Tango laughed, watching Zedaph fly down and collect the few things Sam had on him. 

“Tango!” He heard Zedaph yell from the ground. “Come look at this!” 

Tango pulled on his wings and just let his body roll off the building, his elytra opening and allowing him to glide to the ground. He landed easily, walking over to Zedaph. 

“Yea what’s up?” 

“Sam had a command block on him.” 

___

Doc was pacing by Bdubs’s bed, waiting for the hermit to respawn. But he wasn’t. His friend’s communicator was gone, Xisuma sent him a message about a intruder to the server, and now that death message. Hopefully Sam won’t try to re-enter the server, but who knows. “Come on. Come on Bdubs.” Doc said, anxiously scratching at his neck. He yawned, moving to sit down beside the bed. 

“Come on now. You can’t leave this season so quickly.” he muttered, a clawed hand gripping at messed up sheets. Doc typed out a message to Xisuma, telling him that Bdubs isn’t respawning. “Wait a minute. Did you get  _ banned _ ?” Doc muttered, sitting up as he looked back down at the communicator on his arm. 

The communicators they used were something Doc invented himself. They slide over your arm like a sleeve, made of metal and Iskallium to power it. They were custom made for each hermit, each fitting over their arm perfectly. They could only be taken off the arm via death, or if the passcode was put into it. On the arm was a keyboard, and pressing a certain button made a glass screen pop up out of the sleeve, lights under the glass projecting their messages, as well as having a few of the admin commands. 

The very ver basic commands such as changing a player into spectator mode, and the tp command, only used for extremely dire situations as they all agreed upon. He was thankful that Xisuma allowed for teleportation. 

Xisuma tp’ed himself to Doc, visor securely on his head. “What’s the matter?” Xisuma asked, and Doc gestured to Bdubs’s bed. 

“He’s not respawning. Can you maybe check the ban list?” Doc asked. 

“I never banned Bdubs.” Xisuma glanced down at his communicator, pulling up the admin controls anyways. He started typing, focused on what he was doing as Doc paced nervously. “Calm down friend, this will all be resolved and-”

“But what he Bdubs doesn’t come back?” Doc asked, pausing in his movements, “What if this Sam guy overrode you’re admin powers and permabanned Bdubs?” 

“Then we find a way to bring him back.” Xisuma said, “Ah, here we are. Sam did ban him.” Xisuma said, and typed in a command. As soon as he hit enter his communicator glitched out again, and he groaned lowly. “Come on, not now!” He huffed, before typing in the passcode and taking it off his armored arm. “It keeps glitching out on me.” He sighed. Doc grabbed it carefully, looking it over. 

“It doesn’t seem damaged. Let me take a look at its interior.” He muttered, his robotic arm opening and a screw driver popping out of it. He pulled it out, and sat down, nervously fiddling with the communicator. Xisuma sighed. 

“It always seems to be something on this server huh?” Xisuma pulled out a chair and sat down, just watching Doc. 

“Yea.” Doc smirked. 

___

“Ohvoidohvoidohvoid.” Impulse muttered, he and Grian frantically flying away from piglins as they had decided to hide in the nether. 

“Why did we think this was a good idea?!” 

“Cause Sam is unarmored and these guys will make quick work of him-” Grian said, and he was flying straight towards the Upside down. It was so far away, and now Sam wouldn’t have a communicator. Practically impossible for Sam to get there. He hoped. 

Impulse laughed nervously at the comment, dodging an arrow sent his way as they passed by the little output of land. “Oh no im almost out of rockets.” Impulse said, and Grian handed him some quickly. “Thanks man!” Impulse attempted to smile, but he wasn’t sure how to handle this. Grian seemed to be running as if on autopilot. His tone was flat and factual. And it was… slightly frightening. 

Impulse smiled as he saw Grian’s mansion. The man had always been an amazing builder. They landed in one of the roof’s, just laying down and laying low. Impulse sighed. “Hey G?”

“Yes?” 

“Could you maybe… explain what happened with you and Sam? It might make you feel better.” Impulse offered, and Grian sighed. 

“I won’t go into too much detail. But alright.” Grian sighed softly, wringing his hands together. He took in a deep breath. “Before Evo even, I had a few friends. Sam being one of them. Sam liked to do a lot of… adventures lets call them. One in a world he called Kingdom of Valor. I was a wizard. Taurtis a ninja, and I think Sam was a Knight? I don’t really remember. But. We got imprisoned multiple times. And In that world specifically… I...I.” Grian’s voice started to shake, and he had to sit up. Impulse did as well, putting a hand to his shoulder. 

“Hey, Hey. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want too.” Impulse said softly, giving Grian a gentle smile and pulling the man into a hug. 

**((TW: mentions of rape/sexual assault. Skip to "Nonono!” If you wish to skip over it))**

  
  
  


“I was raped. Raped and assaulted.” Grian whispered, his face buried in Impulses chest. Impulse could feel the tears soaking into his shirt as his eyes widened. He just hugged Grian tighter and let him speak. 

“And he laughed at me. Told me I should’ve enjoyed it and that I was lucky. He even. Even told the  _ thing _ that raped me to do it again.” Grian whimpered, before breaking down into uncontrollable tears. 

Impulse held him close, humming gently and rocking the two back and fourth. “And-And in another world. Oh god. He. He killed Taurtis. My best friend. And forced me to dress and act like him. I held my best friend as he died. He’s psychotic. In general he’s made me kill so many people. I’ve  _ eaten _ players Impulse.  _ I’m a monster. _ ” Grian whimpered. 

“Nonono! No you’re not!” Impulse said, pushing Grian away to look him in the eyes. “You were manipulated into doing that. And yea no matter what its still bad but. That’s not the G-man I know and love. The one  _ we _ know and love. No matter what your past did you. As long as you’ve learned from it and actively made yourself a better person, then all that matters is who you are now.” Impulse smiled softly, tears threatening to leave his eyes. Grian was just quiet, trying to regain his breath in the sweltering heat that was the nether. 

“Thank you…” Grian sobbed, and the two sat in the nether for what felt like hours, just hugging, crying, and talking. Talking now that Grian felt safe enough to do so. 

And Impulse may not be a violent man, but he might just have to get Grian to talk to Iskall. 


	3. Revenge and plans

“You have to tell Iskall and Mumbo.” Impulse said gently, the two still hiding in the nether. Grian jolted up, suddenly looking scared. 

“No!! Never! They’d never talk to me again!” Grian said. Impulse frowned, putting his hands on Grian’s shoulders once again. 

“Grian, G. Look at me.” Impulse smiled softly, “Those two would die for you over and over again. Anyone can tell. I’m just saying you should tell them so they know how big of a threat Sam actually is.” Impulse said. “And if you don’t want to tell them, I can do it for you.” 

Grian’s teeth worried his lip, and he sighed. “You’re right. I need to tell them. Or at least Xisuma.” He said, and Impulse hugged him tightly. 

“I’ll be right there with you okay?” Impulse said softly, smiling. “But uh… if i may ask, why haven’t we gotten the notification that Sam has entered the nether?” 

“He doesn’t know it exists.” Grian muttered, “In his usual worlds, the nether doesn’t really… exist. It’s still a thing, but no one knows about it.” He looked down at his communicator, reading over chat. Sam had been… talking. To them. 

**Samgladiator: Come on Grian! Stop hiding with these losers we need to find Taurtis.**

**Falsesymmetry: Who the fuck are you? And why the fuck are you looking for a zodiac sign?**

**Docm77: thats Taurus, False.**

Grian sighed, hands curling up into fists as he stood up, pulling on his elytra. “Come on Impulse. Lets get that bastard out of here.” He said firmly, and Impulse grinned. 

“Great!” Impulse stood up as well, and the two took off out of the upside down. The two were quiet as they flew, Grian’s face twisted into a expression of anger. Impulse frowned. He knew Grian was angry and upset. He had every right to be. But revenge doesn’t always make things better. However, he kept his mouth shut, knowing he would be unable to convince Grian that. 

Grian meanwhile, felt anger bubble in his very core. For the first time ever, when he thought of Sam he didn’t feel terror, or anguish. He didn’t even feel anger. He felt a deep sense of loathing. He wanted nothing more than to impale Sam onto a sword, rip off his head himself and hand it on the wall like a trophy. To have him beg for mercy at his feet. The thought of it almost brought a smile to his lips. 

Before he knew it, they were at the main portal rooms. Grian sent a message to Iskall. Or rather. A message in chat that only a few people would really understand. 

**Grian: hermit challenges?**

Impulse glanced at the message. “Are you sure you want to do one of those right now? Isn’t it kinda bad timing?” 

“We’re not doing a challenge Impulse. Mumbo, Iskall, and Stress all know that means to meet up at a certain area, the hermit challenges area. They’ll meet me there.” Grian said, rushing towards Iskall’s portal. Impulse just followed him, trusting the shorter hermit knew where he was going. 

Rockets went off once again, wind rushing past them as Grian didn’t even bother using soul speed boots. He didn’t even have them afterall. He landed by the portal and ran through it, appearing at Iskall’s omega tree. Impulse just followed behind him, making sure nothing bad happened. He wasn’t a good fighter, but hey, any distraction was a good distraction. 

Grian flew straight up, up to the top of the tree. He didn’t have time to gawk over Iskall’s organic build, flying over it and to the nice little spot Mumbo had redone. He landed quickly, somehow not taking damage as he looked around frantically, sword in his hand. 

“Woah… Mumbo did a good job with this place huh?” Impulse asked, having never really seen this place before. Grian just nodded, giving him a tiny smile. He looked up into the sky, seeing Iskall and Mumbo quickly flying over, Stress lagging behind them. Iskall landed, rushing over and grabbing Grian by the arms. 

“Are you mad?! What in the name of void is going on here?!” Iskall asked, worry lacing his voice. 

“Yea mate, you usually don’t call these things. And ah. It seems like quite a unsavory time to do so.” Mumbo piped in as Stress landed. Grian only nodded. 

“Yea but, Sam doesn’t know what I mean by hermit challenges. You guys do.” Grian said, gesturing to his communicator. Sam was obviously trying to type commands, the failed attempts showing in chat. He was trying to teleport to him. “I’m done being scared of him. We’re going to end this.” 

“Woah woah woah mate. I know this guy must’ve hurt you, and you have every right to be mad if thats the case! But what exactly happened? Are we allowed to know before we go onto a rampage?” Mumbo asked, laughing nervously. Grian sighed, and Impulse gave him a tiny smile of encouragement, before flying off to go back to Tango’s base. Grian explained the entire story, but instead of tears and sobs wracking his body, anger was causing him to shake. 

Mumbo bit his lip, noting the uncomfortable amount of bloodlust in his best friends eyes. He glanced to Iskall, who was seething mad. Welp. Looks like he wasn’t going to get a word. “Oh that bastard is dead.” Iskall said, pulling out his sword. 

“We can’t kill him yet Iskall. Only after we can set his gamemode to hardcore.” Grian said, “And I might just be able to do that.”

___

  
  


“What do you mean he had a command block?” Xisuma asked Tango and Zedaph. Zedaph just waved the thing around. 

“We mean, when he died, he dropped a command block. And when we looked at it, to seemed to be giving him immunity to being banned, or something like that.” Zedaph said, yawning again. Xisuma sighed, sitting in Bdubs’s base. Doc was still working on fixing his communicator, the mumbling in the background a clear tell. Tango nodded. 

“And as you can see, he’s still trying to do commands, but something isn’t letting him anymore.” Tango added on. He took the block from Zedaph, placing it down. “And neither of us are really all too… well informed on command blocks.” Tango’s face was set into one of worry. 

Xisuma hummed, “well, we can try to take a look at it, and figure it out. Thank you for getting it for me.” Xisuma said, looking at the coding of the block. Tango and Zedaph nodded, standing up. “I’ll be seeing you around then. Remember, we don’t know where Sam is. So be careful.” 

“We will.” 

Tango and Zedaph took off after that, leaving Xisuma and Doc alone again. 

Xisuma glanced over at Doc. “Any luck?” He asked. Doc shook his head. 

“Someone seems to have… burned out the cabling somehow. Like. This was...an intentional thing.” Doc looked over to Xisuma, who even through his visor seemed pale. 

“Sam burned out my communicator so i couldn’t ban him.” Xisuma said, hands going to his helmet and he groaned. “Can this get any worse?!” He complained. Doc huffed. 

“He could kidnap Grian and take him to the farlands.” 

“Dont even joke about that. Knock on wood right now.” Xisuma huffed, and Doc snickered, knocking on wood three times. Xisuma stood up slowly, walking over to Doc to see if there was anything he could do to help. Doc just waved him off. 

Xisuma sighed, walking out of the house to take a breath of air. He was getting stressed over nothing. As soon as they fixed his communicator, things could go back to normal. He might even be able to borrow Iskall’s. He used to be an admin right? 

He shook his head, leaving the smaller house and looking around at Bdubs’s building. He was absolutely awe struck by it. Everyone on the server was so talented, from redstone to building to music. It was amazing to him. He took in a deep breath, and sighed. He went to turn around, but yelped as a player was right behind him. 

“Finally notice me?” Sam asked, grinning ear to ear. Xisuma took out his sword, but before he could even swing it, Sam pressed a button on the communicator. Xisuma gasped as he was blinded, yelling for Doc’s help as he just stood his ground, holding his sword firmly aas he slowly moved around. 

“You lot are all so stupid. If im flaunting something in your face, it means im hiding another thing~” Sam purred, and Doc ran out of the house, Trident in hand and immediately thrown at Sam. Sam jumped out of the way, quickly typing the same command. Or he tried. He had to dodge another trident as Xisuma was pulled behind Doc. Sam took a moment to flee, typing as he ran. Doc’s vision was suddenly heavily impared. But not completely gone. 

You see, potion effects only work on living flesh. Not robotic parts. Doc ushered Xisuma into the house, where it be easier to keep him safe until they got milk. Doc stayed outside the only door of the building. Or at least, he thinks its the only way in. He kept his trident locked firmly in one hand, sword in the other. 

“Come on Sam! Don’t be a fucking coward and face me like a man!” Doc yelled, looking around carefully. His robotic eye analyzing everything. 

“Oh that’s rich coming from a creeper.” Doc didn’t even get to turn before something was slammed against the back of his head, and he fell to the ground with a low groan. His vision spun, and he felt a boot press against the side of his head. “I wonder, what do you look like without all these enhancements?” He heard Sam ask, and felt a sword poke at his skin, digging under his metallic parts. He yelled, trying to stand up. Sam just grinned. 

“Ah well. Guess i can find out a bit later can’t i?” 

“What are you even doing?” Doc growled, placing his hands firmly on the ground and trying to stand up and throw Sam off him, only to let out another yell as a sword stabbed into his hand. 

“Getting Gree-on back.” Sam said simply, before he felt another blow to the head, and he was left unconscious. 

___

Sam grinned as he looked down at the creeper below him. This should be perfect! If Grian was just gonna hide from him, then taking his quote un quote ‘friends’ and hiding  _ them _ should be the perfect little lesson for him! Sam hummed calmly, typing in coordinates into the communicator he had taken, and teleporting there. He then had Doc and Xisuma teleported to him as well. 

What? It was easier and more discrete. 

Sam hummed a happy little tune, taking a still very much conscious yet gagged and tied Xisuma and dragging him into one of the cells he built. Creative mode and a few hours did wonders, didn’t they? Sam grinned, listening to Xisuma’s muffled curse words. He took some chains and tied them around his wrists before untying the cloth from them, and ungagged him as well. 

“You disgusting, volatile son of a bitch!” Xisuma yelled, trying to pull himself from the chains he was currently trapped in. Sam merely laughed at him, pulling off the helmet from his head, and taking the rest of the armor he had. 

“Oh clearly you don’t know what Gree-on’s done then~ he’s much worse than me. And yet you let him onto your server. Tsk tsk tsk.” Sam scolded mockingly, He crouched down to Xisuma’s current height, a grin still pulling on his features, “He’s killed a lot more people than I have, more than he lets on. If anything. I’m  _ saving _ your server.” Sam said, before standing up and walking over to the unconscious and slightly bleeding creeper. 

“Gree-on is a very dangerous man. He’s not only killed people,  _ admin _ , but ate them too.” Sam cooed, struggling to drag Doc into the neighboring cell. Xisuma almost laughed at how weak the other seemed. “Not only that, but he’s a slut as well. I’m surprised I haven’t heard of him banging everyone here.” Sam rolled his eyes as he dragged the creeper into the cell, chaining him up only by one hand. He took his sword and dug the point into Doc’s robotic arm, where flesh met metal. He drove it into the crease, listening as it popped off rather easily. 

“Leave Doc alone you Psycho!” Xisuma yelled once again, the noise stirring Doc awake. He groaned lowly, only to jolt up and try breaking free. His eye dilated, and for a brief moment, he was back there, chained up and in pain. 

“Oh? What’s this?” Sam grinned at the panic on Doc’s face, and Xisuma pushed himself against the side of the cell, iron bars separating them. 

  
  


“Doc! Doc you have to listen to me! You’re not back with Mr.K. You’re still in hermitcraft, your still with me.” Xisuma said, and Doc growled, but not towards him. His eyes snapped over to Sam, who was still grinning as he held the others bionic arm. 

“History with chains I see~?” Sam cooed, taking the arm and closing the cell door, locking it shut. He did the same with Xisuma’s. “Welp!” Sam placed the arm down on a table, and glanced back at the two prisoners. “Its time to see how long it takes before Gree-on realizes your gone.” Sam turned, taking the netherite armor Xisuma had on his person (not his inventory), and slipping it on. The two were rather similar in build after all, and only a few inches of a height difference. 

“And in the meantime, I might as well do a bit of resource gathering.” He chuckled, before walking out the door of this place. 

Xisuma looked over at Doc, and frowned deeply. “Doc. Can you still control your arm?” He asked, and Doc simply nodded. The arm on the table moved, rolling off of it. The two winced at the loud thud that rang out. Doc glared at the appendage, watching as it practically slithered back over to the cell door. Xisuma glanced from the arm to Doc, noticing how hard it seemed to be for the other hermit. 

“It’s not gonna be able to reach anything X.” Doc said calmly. Xisuma cursed lowly, “The best thing to do is gonna be to wait. Sam doesn’t seem to want us dead yet, He wants us to get to Grian.” 

“Fuck.” Xisuma growled. “Sam’s so fucking dead.” 


	4. New Developments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Descriptions of panic attacks, faint hints of PTSD

“yOU WERE AN ADMIN?!” Iskall and Mumbo squeaked, their eyes blown out of their heads. Admin abilities, while not rare, tended to manifest themselves in those who spent years cultivating that specific type of magic and abilities. Grian laughed, unable to help it. 

“Yes I was! What do you think i did in Evo?” Grian asked. 

“I don't know! Be afraid of the watchers coming to kill you because they hate you for some reason?!” Mumbo said, and Grian laughed harder. 

“What? You didn’t realize that was me the entire time??? I was playing a part man.” Grian smiled, but sighed as he opened up his communicator. 

“I-? I don’t think I’d ever trust you with that sort of power.” Iskall muttered in shock. He heard the scoff that came from the smaller hermit, and could practically see the eye roll without looking directly at him. Iskall watched the other type for a few moments. Watched the others eyebrows furrow in both confusion and anger. 

“Grian? Maybe you should sit this one out? I mean, If he’s after you, and you just go in all guns blazing well. Your essentially giving yourself up there.” Stress said, “You can go hide in the end somewhere! Wouldn’t that work?” She offered him a smile, but Grian shook his head. 

“No, Sam is far too determined of a man to do that.” He muttered, “If i keep running he’ll keep on finding me.” Grian said bluntly. “ _ So _ if i want him gone forever. I have to prove im not some sort of prey.” He said. Iskall nodded slowly. 

“So you have to prove your stronger than him?” Iskall asked to clarify. Grian nodded. 

“Exactly!” 

“Um guys. A little issue.” Mumbo said, pointing to the sky. The three looked up, and were quick to jolt into the bushes before the figure landed in the hermit challenges area. 

“Gree-on! Come on! I know you’re here!” Sam called out, looking around the jungle. “I have a trade for you!” He added on. “If you come out now, I’ll let go of that freak and the admin!” 

Grian’s blood ran cold. Sam had someone and Xisuma? When? Where they hurt? Grian felt a pressure on his arm, and he turned and saw Stress gripping at him, silently telling him to stay down with a few pointed expressions. He noticed Iskall nor Mumbo where anywhere near them. He couldn’t even see the glow of Iskall’s iskallium eye. His eyes snapped back over to Sam when he heard the other starting to walk around the area. 

“Come on Gree-on. Don’t ignore me. You know how badly that ends up!” Sam said, “Your communicators last location was here! So you have to be here somewhere!” He said, continuing to whip his head around. Grian and him made eye contact. “Oh, there you are!” Sam grinned widely, walking over to him, “You suck at hide and seek you know.” He laughed. 

Grian was about ready to pull out his sword, but remembered Stress was grabbing onto his arm. She went to stand up and run with him, to get Grian away from this psycho, but was stopped in her tracks when Sam already had Grian in a death grip. “Let go of me.” Grian growled, his eyes narrowing in on Sam. 

“Oh look, even now your a ladies man.” Sam mocked, laughing as his grip got tighter. “Now, you listen to me Gree-on.” 

“No, you listen to me!” 

Both men looked at the voice. It was Mumbo out of all people. With a sword out and not at all looking confident. Mumbo was clad in his netherite armor, his sword shining with its enchantments and a bow strapped over his shoulder. He put on a glare, his face not at all used to the expression. 

“You are going to put down my friend, leave this server, and never come back!” Mumbo stated confidently. Sam stared at him for a few moments, before he laughed. The psychotic laugh sent shivers down Grian’s spine. 

“You really think you can stop me?” Sam asked, dropping Grian to fully look at Mumbo, “If i can control another admin, and a creeper. What makes you any more of a threat?” Sam asked, waving an iron sword in his hand, aiming it at Mumbo. 

“Because he’s a blathering idiot.” 

Sam turned again, only for Iskall swing a hard punch to Sam’s nose, hearing the satisfying snap of bone and seeing the blood already dripping down Sam’s face. “Oh that felt good.” Iskall grinned. 

“Oh you are sO DEAD!” Sam yelled, taking his sword still and driving it towards Iskall, who easily just grabbed Sam’s hand to stop the move a mere inch away from his body. 

“Oh no, you’re going to be if you don’t tell us where Xisuma and Doc are.” Iskall said very calmly, pulling the iron sword from Sam’s grip and tossing it casually to Grian. He yelped as he caught it, the iron seemingly burning at his skin. He never wanted to be near this damn thing. When he looked up, Iskall had Sam pinned to the ground, foot keeping his face against the stone. His right arm was up, being held by Iskall. “So get talking.” 

“What the fuck even are you?!” 

“An ex assassin. So. You gonna tell us or do I need to force the words out of you?” Iskall growled, putting more weight on the foot against Sam’s head. Grian flinched faintly. “Where. Are. Doc. and Xisuma?” Iskall snarled. Grian reached out, grabbing Mumbo by his suit sleeve. 

“Mumbo…” Grian started, but flinched as he heard Sam yell. 

“Why won’t you just let me take him back?! You all STOLE him from me! From Taurtis! We  _ NEED  _ to find Taurtis again! Why am I the bad guy here!? Gree-on, come on, tell them to let go!” Sam said, looking up at Grian. Mumbo stepped in front of him. 

“We won’t be letting you go anytime soon.” Mumbo stated, adjusting his tie, “Because believe it or not. Grian is our friend. An  _ actual _ friend. Not someone we just step on to get to a higher place, or someone we reduce to  _ madness _ .” Mumbo glared down at the rabbit, and unsheathed his own sword once more. “So tell us. Where are they?” 

“Fine. They’re not too far from Bdubs’s base. Only a few thousand blocks.” Sam smirked, but got a foot driven into his shoulder. He cried out in pain. “I cant remember the exact coordinates! But a few thousand blocks north of there!” Sam said, and Iskall pulled him up onto his feet. 

“Alright. So, you’ll just have to show me.” 

___

Tango had gone back to Bdubs’s base, to check on the information of the command block. He was greeted to ruin, glass shards on the ground that indicated a potion of some kind was thrown. “Oh no.” He muttered, looking around. “X??? Doc?” Tango called out, hearing no response. “C...Come on guys! This isn’t funny!” Tango looked everywhere he could, no response, and no sight of the two either. “Oh god.” He muttered, before opening the chat of his communicator. 

**TangoTek: Has anyone seen X and Doc?**

**Falsesymmetry: No why? Weren’t they at Bdubs’s place?**

**TangoTek: Yea I’m there rn and nothing :/**

**Iskall85: Hi, Stress here! Yea Iskall has Sam and hes getting to them. Dw Tango! <3 **

Tango sighed in relieve. Okay, this shouldn’t be anything to worry about. Right? 

___

Yea it was something to worry about. 

Doc was freaking out about being in chains again, with Xisuma just barely keeping him from exploding another limb off too get out of them. Sweat was accumulating on Doc’s brow, his chest rising and falling in quick succession as the cold grip of panic seized his every nerve. He was trying hard to not be irrational. But the cold metal around his neck and wrist seemed to burn at his skin, gripping tighter and tighter with each breath he took. 

“Doc? Doc I need you to look at me.” Xisuma said, his voice a cutting calm through a hazy storm. Doc looked over to him, tears in his flesh eye. “You’ll be okay. Trust me. No more needles. No more muzzles. Focus on me Doc, okay? Can you do that for me?” Xisuma asked, and Doc nodded slowly. “Good. Good. Now, what are four things you can see?” 

“You, bars, cobblestone, and… and the lanterns.” 

“Good!! Three things you can feel? Besides metal.” 

“Cobble again, the draft from the door, and…the stone brick.” 

“Two things you can hear?” 

“You, and rockets coming closer.” Doc said, before the two jolted up. “And rockets coming closer!” He repeated. “Someone’s coming to help us!” 

“HEY!” Xisuma and Doc yelled, trying to gain the rocket users attention. “We’re in here!” 

The drafty door opened, and Iskall walked in with his arm tight around Sam’s neck. “Let them go. Now.” Iskall said, throwing Sam onto the ground without caring he hurt the other. “Before I do worse than break your nose.” 

Sam slowly stood up, hands raised. “Okay. Okay. Let me just get the key.” Sam said, walking over to the only desk in front of the two cells. Where the metal arm had once been. Sam reached into a drawer. “...Has Grian ever told you…?” Sam asked Idley. Iskall grabbed at his sword incase the other tried to pull something, “Back home, we have guns.” 

**_BANG!_ **

Iskall didn’t fall immediately. Didn’t even feel pain. There was a loud ringing in his ears, and it felt like everything just stopped for a moment. Everything was unfocused. He could hear muffled screaming. And, when did he get onto the floor? 

Pain started to bloom in his stomach. At first it was a dull ache, before a searing hot fire spread throughout his abdomen. 

“Fuck...you.” Iskall growled, hand over his stomach. No matter how many times you’ve been shot, it still hurts like hell. 

Sam laughed at him, grabbing the Ex-assassin by the arm and dragging him into one of the cells. “I wouldn’t get so feisty with me~ After all, I’m the only one who can heal you right now.” Sam said, locking the cell door behind him, and tossing a handful of bandages at him, but no healing potions. “Have fun trying not to die. The worlds on hardcore mode.” Sam grinned, and simply left the room the three were in. 

“Iskall!” Xisuma, who Iskall had been celled with, tried to lean forward the best he could, his arms trapped against the wall limiting his movements. “Iskall talk to me.” Xisuma said, and Iskall grunted a bit, pulling up his own shirt and pressing gauze against the bullet wound. He’d worry about the bullet in his gut later, when he had the right things to get it out. 

“I...I’ll be fine.” Iskall grunted, slowly sitting up to lean against the wall. 

“Dude. You just got shot in the stomach you are not fine.” Doc said. Iskall rolled his eyes, just ignoring the other. He pressed the gauze further against the bullet wound, groaning in pain. 

“Fuuck this hurts.” Iskall muttered, and Xisuma sighed. 

“How the fuck did he get a gun? This server doesn’t allow them.” He muttered. 

“Sam is a glitch thats how.” Doc explained, “The server can’t locate him because hes using Bdubs’s communicator, He broke yours and now Iskall is here. Theres no other actual admins here.” 

“Grian’s one.” Iskall muttered. The two looked over to him. “Grian was the admin of his last world.” 

___

“This is my fault. This is all my fault.” Grian was panicking, pacing back and fourth within his trading hall. Stress had covered the entire entrance with black wool, to make it seem like your typical fake wall sort of build. She made it a few layers deep as well, just in case. Yea it was just wool, but anything to make Grian feel safer. 

“Mate, this isn’t your fault. He’s crazy!” Mumbo said, sitting on one of the anvils in the room and watching Grian pace. 

“I should just hand myself over to him. He’ll let X and Doc go. Who knows what he’s pulled to get away from Iskall.” Grian muttered, “Oh  _ god _ but what if he takes me back to that stupid kingdom and that  _ stupid rat _ -!” Grian fell onto his ass, his vision spinning. 

“Grian!” Mumbo rushed over to him, grabbing onto him so he didn’t fall fully. “Grian, breathe.” Mumbo said softly, reaching over and placing his cold hand on Grian’s face. He was burning up. 

“Grian, you okay love?” Stress asked, walking over. 

“He’s running a fever.” Mumbo said, “Can you go get some water? If not I can-” 

“Mumbo, I’ll go get it for you. Anything else you need from the shopping district?” 

“Uh. Meat if you can, and bread or something. No one here eats anything but vegetables it cant be good for us.” Mumbo sighed, and Stress giggled. 

“Of course, I’ll be right back.” Stress flew into the nether portal, and just as she left, two others rushed in. 

“G!” 

“Grian!” 

Scar and Cub. 

“We heard what’s going on and we wanted to help.” Scar said, “He messed with Bdubs and now he has to mess with the mayor!” 

“Thanks for the help guys. But um. I think we have a ah… issue.” Mumbo said, looking down to Grian. He had a spaced out look to his eyes, and he was clearly not here. “Grian?” Mumbo waved a hand in front of his face, but no reaction. Scar and Cub walked over, both of their eyes wide with worry. They sat down beside and in front of Grian. 

“G?” Scar reached out, going to grab the hand that was on the others lap. It was a move he probably shouldn’t have done. 

Grian’s eyes snapped to attention at the hand coming towards him, grabbing it and quickly getting Scar into a wrist lock, the scarred man’s face being pressed into the floor. 

“Grian!” Cub shot up, pulling Grian away from Scar, “The hell is wrong with you man?!” Cub yelled, and Mumbo jumped up as well. 

“Cub let go of him! He didn’t mean it!” Mumbo said, and Cub sighed, letting go of the other. The smaller man  _ scrambled _ to get behind Mumbo, just cowering and curling up. “Grian has a bad past with that intruder Sam. I will not talk about what exactly happened to him, It’s not my place too. But from now until Sam is gone, do NOT try to go anywhere near his legs. Got it?” Mumbo said, and the two ‘political figures’ shared a knowing glance, and nodded. 

“I’m sorry G. I didn’t think.” Scar said, “Can you forgive me?” 

“I..I’m sorry for almost breaking your wrist.” Grian muttered. Scar smiled, 

“Not your fault G.” Scar smiled, moving to sit beside him. He ran his hand through Grian’s hair, watching as the hermit practically collapsed against him. “Hey Cub? Do a fellow Vex a favor will you?” 

“Uh, sure Scar. What’s up?” 

“Break Sam’s legs for me.” 

“You did  _ not _ need to ask.” 

___

Stress was grabbing things from the shopping district, even using Tango’s pork chop farm to get meat like Mumbo asked. She also took a few other things, mostly so Sam couldn’t get them. Armor and weapons from the elytra shop, the few remaining totems from Impulse’s shop, and healing potions from her own place. Don’t worry though, she got explicit permission to do this from the other hermits! She wouldn’t steal!

She kept an eye out for Sam, her hand on her own sword. She was bad at PVP yes, but its better than nothing. Her gut was telling her that this was bad. Bad bad. Like. Worse than anything they’ve experienced bad. She was keenly aware of her hunger level, the display on her communicator, as well as her heart level. Her eyes kept being drawn to the screen, as if she was getting damage somehow. 

“I need to calm down.” Stress sighed, “Stressing out won’t help me at all.” She said, then giggled at her own pun. She walked up to town hall, to the diamond thrown. The light glittered off of the thrown, and Stress smiled faintly. She had to, She had to help Grian and Mumbo stay calm, although anxiety ate at her like a hungry beast. 

What if Iskall is hurt? What if Xisuma and Doc are dead, and Sam somehow muted the notification? What if-?   
  
She shook out her head. No. They’ll be okay. Iskall will bring them home. Stress’s eyes went to her hand, where a golden band was around her ring finger. She’s surprised none of the hermits commented on it, but was also glad they didn’t make a big deal about it. Iskall wanted the ceremony to be very small, due to his history. The more people who knew the more word could spread. She understood. Stress’s direct family had been there, as well as Mumbo to be Iskall’s best man, but he was sworn to secrecy. 

Stress smiled faintly, but shook her thoughts from her head. She needed to get back to Grian’s base. She started to walk down the stairs, her inventory filled with shulker boxes. She slipped into the nether once more, heading for Grian’s portal. 

She didn’t notice the man that had followed her.


	5. Chapter 5- the spiral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! I am alive once more to give you the content you've asked for. Sam getting his ass handed to him!! :D
> 
> TW for; Sexual harassment, nudity, Panic attacks, mentions of Rape, manipulation, and gas-lighting

Doc regretted everything he had ever done. Memories that he had tried so hard to suppress were making themselves known again. He knew that Xisuma was beside him, and X would do anything to keep him safe, but trauma doesn’t always care about facts now does it? He could hear labored, slow breathing that belonged to Iskall, and tried to focus on that noise instead of the thoughts filling his head. 

He could hear Xisuma talking, saying something to him in an attempt to keep him calm. But he couldn’t focus on the words being said. His hearing blurred to only his heartbeat, his vision going with it as tears flooded his eye. 

“What’s wrong with Doc?” Iskall asked softly, his voice strained. Xisuma looked at him. 

“Doc, you want to explain? Or would you rather me do it?” Xisuma said. Doc nodded towards the last option, and Xisuma sighed. 

“Doc… used to be human.” Xisuma started with, his voice quiet and calm, “Until his own teacher kidnapped him and proceeded to do so many inhumane things to him. Chained him up and muzzled him, forced a hormone changer or something into his body that changed him from a man, to well… a creeper. So he has a bad history with being tied up and chained.” Iskall didn’t know what to think honestly. It scared him, the idea of that type of science being real. 

“Doc...I-”

“No use feeling pity.” Doc growled out, not aggressive with his tone in the slightest. 

__

Stress was walking quietly through her nether tunnels. She’d fly using her elytra, but it had broken. She was moving faster with the help of soul speed, but still, she wished she had her elytra. Especially after hearing the echoing of footsteps behind her. The walking pattern wasn’t like anyone she knew. It was heavier, angry. She didn’t dare turn around, just pulling her communicator up to her face, and used that to look at the reflection. 

Sam was quickly advancing behind her. 

She screamed, and just ran, using the soul speed enchant to the max of its abilities. She heard Sam yell at her, the words drowning out in her ears. She stored the useful items in her inventory as she ran, watching them disappear from her arms as she did so. She skidded to a stop at the end of the tunnel, to where it suddenly jutted to a end by Ren’s nether hub. She jumped down effortlessly, running to her portal and not Grian’s. She went to run into the purple glowing portal, but screamed as a hand gripped at her hair, pulling her back and onto the ground. She went to grab her sword from its sheath, only to find that she accidentally stored it in her inventory. She just threw her arms over her head. 

Just in time too, as a fist came barreling down as a weight landed on her hips. She peaked between her arms, seeing Sam with a malicious grin on his lips. His hands gripped her wrist, before slamming her hands into the blackstone beneath her. He leaned forward, eyes scanning over her with a sick grin. “Iskall is a very lucky man it seems~ Bagging a chick like you.” He said, and Stress squirmed under him. 

“Let me go you sick freak!” Stress said, trying to struggle out of his grasp. Sam just laughed, putting more of his weight on her arms. 

“Aw~ But you look so cute like this~” Sam purred, and Stress shivered at the way his eyes trailed down to her chest area. “I might just have to have some fun with yo-”

“Get. off. Her.” A low voice growled behind them. Sam turned, seeing a man with tanned skin, sunglasses, and wolf ears poking from brown hair. He had a sword aimed, but was snarling with sharp, animalistic teeth. Something in Sam told him to flee, that this man was  _ danger _ . But he just laughed, moving his hand from Stress’s arm and putting it around her throat, squeezing tightly. 

“And what are you gonna do about it, wolfy?” Sam asked. “You try and rip me off her, I could just gouge her throat out with my grip.” He grinned at the growling wolf. 

“Well. I can do this.” Ren grinned, and dropped the sword. His body started to contort, before a snarling brown wolf snapped its salivating jaws towards Sam’s neck. 

Stress whimpered, unable to breathe as this was going on. Her vision was blurring as she heard a scream, and felt warm blood splatter onto her face. 

**_Samgladiator was mauled by Rendog_ **

Stress gasped as the pressure stopped, the weight on her quickly being thrown off. She shot up, coughing into her elbow as she gasped for air, tears falling down her face. 

“Hey! Hey hey, Stress. It’s okay. I promise your okay.” Ren came rushing to her side, pulling her into a hug. She felt blood coating his skin, but frankly she needed the comfort. “What’s going on my dude? Who was that guy?” Ren asked. 

“S-Sam. He’s harassing Grian and- and he kidnapped Iskall, Xisuma, and Doc.” Stress said, shaking. Ren nodded, standing up and pulling Stress up as well. 

“Then come on, we should get to Grian’s base then, right?” Ren asked, and Stress nodded with a whimper. She was shaking, kind of obvious as to the reason why. Ren just walked beside her into Grian’s portal, taking his sword with him, and whatever clothing scraps he had left. His wolf form tended to ah.. Shred his clothing. 

So yes, as he walked into Grian’s portal. He was butt naked. 

“GOOD VOID PUT SOME PANTS ON MAN!” Scar yelped, covering his eyes with a bright red face. Cub and Grian did the same. 

“I don’t have any! Not on me at least! I had to be Stress’s knight in shining armor! Clothes matter not in the act of heroism!” Ren grinned, and Stress giggled as she tried to just… avoid looking downwards on Ren’s body. 

“Oh my void. Let me get you some pants.” Grian muttered, standing up on shaky legs to rush to his closet in his hobbit hole. Ren just laughed, moving to sit on one of the many anvils at Grian’s base. He just… covered, his area, laughing as Scar grumbled in embarrassment. 

“So, who was gonna let the rest of us know there was some sorta sick pervert on the server?” 

“Huh?” 

“Yea, If I didn’t swoop in, who knows what he would’ve done to Stress!” 

“ _ What? _ ” Cub and Scar asked in unison. Stress nodded a bit, not really wanting to talk about it. Yea nothing actually happened, but still, it scared her to her core. She couldn’t have done anything to stop him if he really… tried anything. 

“Y..Yea. He pinned me down and was um… staring at me and he said he was going to uh-”

“Say no more Stress.” Cub said, pulling out his sword, “I’m going after that bastard so we can imprison him. I won’t let him get away with that behavior.” Cub said, pulling on armor. “You all stay here.” 

“Cub don’t be an idiot here.” Ren said, stretching. Her grinned as he noticed Scar just… staring at his chest. “If he got Iskall, he can get us all. Take me with you, so we can help each other out!” Ren grinned. 

“Once you get clothes on you nudist.” Cub grumbled. 

“Hey! I got nothing to hide! Scar seems to enjoy it~” 

“I do NOT!” Scar yelped, “I would  _ not  _ be starring at a resistance member!” Scar said defensively. Ren laughed softly, beginning to flex. 

“What? You mean you don’t want some of these guns~?” He asked, and Scar just stammered in embarrassment. Stress giggled at the two. Ren always knew how to lighten up everyone’s mood. Grian came walking in with a new pair of clothes for Ren. 

“You’re lucky I always keep some of your clothes here.” Grian sighed, walking over and shoving the clothing items into his hands. 

“Oh? And why’s that G-man?” Ren grinned, and Grian just punched his arm. 

“Because you always somehow end up naked on this server!” Grian laughed, and Ren just slipped on a shirt, boxers, and pants. 

“Man, its not my fault clothes just suck. Why should we be hiding ourselves?” Ren asked, and Grian huffed. 

“Well  _ sorry _ not all of us can be built like a god.” He said, and Ren laughed. He sat up straight as the red T-shirt pulled against his chest. “Oh, sorry that may be a bit small.” Grian said sheepishly. Ren just waved him off. 

“No problemo man. Come on cub! Lets get going!” Ren said, Strapping on armor. Scar gawked. 

“You mean you had armor on you and you  _ didn't _ cover yourself with it!?” 

“Uh yea.” Ren grinned as Scar just groaned. 

“I’ll stay here with Grian and Stress.” Scar muttered, sighing. “I’ll see if I can call in some Vex favors.” 

“Gotcha my Scarian fellow!” Ren chirped. And soon Cub and Ren left to find that slippery bunny. 

“He’s unbelievable.” Scar sighed, his face still red. Stress giggled, 

“But you love him.” She said. 

___

Sam growled to himself, quickly getting away from spawn and fleeing towards his own base. Stupid wolf. Stupid fangs. He started to ponder. He  _ needed _ to get Taurtis back.  _ They _ needed Taurtis back. How else were they going to be friends again? How else was he supposed to finish his stories? 

Sam knew that Grian was able to summon Taurtis, the netherborn and him were so much closer than Sam first thought. If Grian was fighting hin this hard, sending others to fight his battles, that must mean hes the king of this place right? 

Grian was always a twisted ruler. Sam shivered at the memories of Grian’s magic, of the bolts of water against his back as he was forced to work. Really, he was saving these guys. Why did they want to protect him so much? 

Sam suddenly snapped his fingers. He got it! Grian killed another wizard, got his powers, and used it to turn the players here into his servants! That had to be what happened! Oh, if only Thanny was here to help him, Thanny wouldn’t just abandon him like that! 

Sam crawled on top of a mountain, and looked down at the communicator he stole. It was starting to bug out, being so far away from its owner. He groaned, before slamming his palm into it and typing. 

**_/unban_ ** **_BdoubleO100_ **

**_BdoubleO100 has joined the server_ ** . 

Sam grinned as the communicator burst back to life again. He started typing, and teleported himself back to his base. He glanced around his own area, and realized he  _ really _ should get a bed to respawn in. He summoned the item, placing it down and just making sure his spawn was reset, before walking down towards the dungeon area, where he kept the three prisoners of his. He heard the low growl of that freak as he walked in. 

“Oh be quiet you. I don’t want to hear it.” Sam said, taking Doc’s metal arm, “I’m even being as kind as to regift you your arm back!” He said, “With a few tweaks of course.” Sam grinned, putting it down on the table and opening it up, he admired the intricut wiring for a few moments, before starting to work. 

“Don’t touch it! You’re going to damage it!” Doc growled, and Sam shrugged, 

“Dont worry about it, I know what I’m doing.” 

He did not know what he was doing. 

“After I’ve finished up your arm upgrades, I’ll be needing you to cooperate with me.” Sam said bluntly. Xisuma puffed up a bit. 

“Don’t you dare hurt him.” 

“Hurt him? No! I’m  _ saving  _ him. From Gree-on. He has you all under a spell you know.” 

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Iskall asked, Sam turned to face them, putting his elbows against his legs and leaning forward. 

“You see, back home, Grian was a wizard, I don’t know if he still is. If you kill someone as a wizard, you get there powers. He must’ve killed a wizard with a mind control ability, and hes using that to make you all protect him.” Sam said, and turned before any of the three could process what had just been said. “So in taking him back from you, I’ll be saving you! I just need a little… help doing so. And thats where the freak comes in.” Sam said, “He’ll be the first to be freed from Gree-on’s spell.” 

“Grian wouldn’t cast a spell on us!” Iskall said, wincing as a harsh movement sent a wave of pain through his stomach. “He cares about us.”

“Does he really? Tell me, have any of you been acting weirdly since his arrival?” 

“All he does is start prank wars and puppet governments as a joke! Not like he tries killing us all the time!” Iskall said, and Sam smiled softly, turning once again. 

“My friend, Grian is just hiding his own personality from you,” Sam said, his voice sweet like honey, sticking to their minds. “Grian is just a power hungry soul, who will do anything and any _ one _ to get that power.”

“You’re lying!” 

“Am I? Tell me, Admin. Has Grian told you about what happened before he came here?” Sam asked, Iskall spoke up once again. 

“Yes! He has. He told up he was raped, and that you laughed and blamed him for it! TWICE!” Iskall growled. Doc and Xisuma looked over at Iskall. 

“Iskall, you need to calm down, your stomach-”

“I dont care. Im not going to let this guy skew the truth about Grian like this!” He said, holding his hand against his stomach. If he bled out, so be it. 

Sam sighed, standing up and grabbing something from a chest beside him. He walked over to the cell he had Iskall and Xisuma in, throwing Iskall a key. “Those are to unlock admin over there, and here.” He threw a bag of medical supplies in as well. “It be cruel to let you bleed out.”

“Oh yea, like  _ thats _ the worst thing you’ve done.” Iskall growled, but did in fact unlock Xisuma’s chains. The admin went to quickly work on fixing Iskall’s wounds. 

Sam rolled his eyes, “Its bad to get all your information from one source.” He said, going back to making his adjustments to Doc’s arm. 

___

It only took him an hour to install what he wanted to, and he grinned as he sat up. “Oh freak~ I have the arm ready for you.” Sam smiled, and began walking towards a different iron door. He opened it up with a lever, grinning as he turned back to the cells. 

“My name is Doc.” said creeper growled through the muzzle. He watched as Sam walked up towards his cell, unlocking the door and pulling something out of his inventory. “Is that a fucking collar?!” Doc asked, and Sam just nodded. 

“Well duh, I can’t have you just running off on me.” Sam said, kneeling down and pressing a knee into Doc’s stomach to get him to be still, latching the collar around his neck as he growled. Sam attached a chain to the collar, and unlocked Doc’s hand restraints. 

Just like he guessed, Doc tried to throw a punch at him, but as Sam blocked it, his pressed a remote in his pocket. 

Doc screamed as electricity filled his body, and he ended up bowed on the floor as he grabbed at his neck with his one hand. “H..How did you-?” Doc asked with a low, shaking voice. 

“Oh simple really, I figured out how your arm worked, and remade the technology in order to make it zap the user! Its just like the one made for dogs.” Sam smiled, and tugged at the leash. “Now come on, behave and I wont shock you again.” Sam said, and Xisuma slammed his fist against the bars of the cell. 

“Leave him alone! He’s not a fucking animal!” Xisuma yelled, and Sam turned, smiling gently. 

“Aww… Is admin scared of breaking his promise?” Sam asked, before Doc slowly stood up. 

“I’ll… I’ll be fine X.” Doc said quietly. Iskall was unconscious, currently laying against Xisuma as his body tried to heal. 

Doc was dragged into that unknown room, the door closing behind them. 

Doc’s entire body froze when he saw the operating table, a loud hiss leaving him before he was shocked again, making him fall to his knees. “Don’t you-you dare you bastard!” Doc snarled, but Sam merely grabbed him by the collar, dragging him to the table and body slamming him onto it with a loud THUD. 

“You will behave, Freak. I don’t want to have to actually hurt you while your on this table, so don’t make me.” Sam said, and Doc tried to fight back as Sam strapped Leather around his chest, torso, legs, and his one arm, leaving him unable to fight back. Doc watched as a screwdriver was brought towards his mechanical eye.

_ “Now, lets see what we can do to fix you...”  _


	6. Traitor

  
  


Grian was pacing within his mansion. He felt like he was a trapped animal, ready to just snap. “Scar. Scar can we uh. Do something besides sit here and wait?” Grian asked, looking at the slightly smaller Hermit. Scar glanced to him, before nodding. 

“Yea! Lets go find Bdubs!” Scar said, and Grian gave him an odd look before actually checking his communicator. “Sam unbanned him for some reason.” 

“Maybe the communicator wasn’t working? He hasn’t tried any other commands in a while.” Grian suggested, pulling on his armor. He strapped the leather straps over his red sweater, tying them tight to himself as Scar did the same.    
  
“Uuuh G? Can you help a man out?” Scar asked, unable to reach the fastens on his back.    
  


“You’re actually putting a chestplate on?” 

“Uuh yea! What if  _ he _ comes and attacks?? I’m not leaving my chest in the open!” Scar said, “I’m not like Bdubs or Ren, I don’t have pecs of steal!” 

Grian laughed, walking over and helping him out. He tightened the straps so the chestplate didn’t fall off. A small smile tugged at his lips, thinking of what needed to be done around the barge. He had been planning to expand it again, make it two floors instead of just one. Maybe he could get some help with that. Grian shook his head out a bit, walking towards his portal. So far the nether had been safe enough from Sam.    
  


The two leaders stayed close to one another, eyes watching diligently for any sign of Sam. They saw another figure approach however.    
  
“Bdubs-!” Scar and Grian yelled, rushing over to the quickly advancing figure. The three embraced, sinking onto the floor.    
  
“Scar! Grian! Void im so glad to see you two!” Bdubs said, hugging the two tightly. “I thought I’d never be allowed back!” The three pulled away just enough to see each other. 

“I tried going to Xisuma but he wasn’t at his base. Do you know where he is?” Bdubs asked, and the two ‘war’ leaders exchanged glances. “What?”   
  
“Bdubs… Doc, Iskall and Xisuma were kidnapped by the guy who killed and banned you.” Scar said softly, and Bdubs’s eyes widened. 

“Oh no.” He muttered, unable to really form any other reaction. Grian and Scar nodded. 

“Yea, and he wants to get to me.” Grian said softly, sighing. Bdubs tilted his head, looking around carefully before asking. 

“Why exactly does he want you?” Bdubs asked. Grian frowned, his hand wrapping around his arm.    
  
“Because he likes control. He likes controlling people and things and well. Now. Im not under his control.” Grian said, and Bdubs nodded slightly. 

“Its okay G! We can handle this! I know we can! We have some of the best people in the worlds here!” Bdubs grinned his usual hopeful grin, and Grian nodded. 

“Yea… maybe we can.” He smiled a tiny bit. 

___

They could not handle this.   
  
Cub and Ren were running from an unusually pissed off Doc. The hybrid was running after them like he lost his humanity, just a mindless monster who wanted blood. Cub was panting heavily as he ran. He wasn’t nearly as fast as Ren was. The werewolf really should've stopped to help him, but he didn’t blame the other at all. 

He heard a loud hiss, and in glancing over his shoulder he saw Doc catching up to them. He cursed loudly, barely missing a swipe of the others claws. Cub didn’t want to fight his friend, but a few hits wouldn’t hurt.

Much.

Cub drove his fist into the others stomach, earning a grunt as Doc folded with his fist. Doc landed on the ground, and Cub pointed his trident as the others neck. “Doc, what’s wrong with you man? Is everything okay?” He asked, and Doc snarled loudly, before his body flashed white. Cub yelped, rushing back before Doc exploded and killed not only him, but himself. 

“Never knew we’d be playing keep away from a 6 foot tall creeper-” Ren muttered, picking up Cub and starting to run. Cub laughed, letting the werewolf carry him. 

“No kidding. I wonder what happened though. I thought Doc had a pretty good grip on his instincts.” Cub pondered, watching the creeper hybrid suddenly… stop running. “Ren.”   
  
“Yea my dude?”   
  
“Stop.”    
  
“Why? Isn’t he chasing us?”   
  
Cub saw the manic grin pull at Doc’s lips from afar. The glint in his eyes as he stood fully straight, the animalistic behavior gone. Doc simply waved slowly. 

“This is a trap-” 

Before Cub or Ren could fully process what was going on, they were falling, having rigged a old style redstone trap. Cub had slipped from Ren’s grip, the two free falling. They screamed as they landed harshly on solid obsidian. 

Cub blacked out from impact. 

Ren was barely conscious, moving over to Cub with a wince. He pulled the bald man into his arms, guarding him as he looked straight up. He growled at the faces. 

Sam was grinning ear to ear, before he looked up at Doc and said a few words. Doc nodded, and walked away from Ren’s view.    
  
“Oh don’t be like that!” Sam called down. “I’m saving you all! Gre-on has put a spell on you all! I’ve saved Doc from his grasp myself!”    
  
“What did you do to Doc?!” Ren yelled. “Doc would never hurt his bros!”    
  
“Well. He didn’t hurt you did he?” Sam asked back. Ren paused. All of Doc’s attacks on them had missed. Doc was a skilled fighter, and he wouldn’t have missed if he really wanted to hurt them. 

It had been a set up from the moment they approached him. 

“Exactly! Now! Doccy is gonna come grab you both, and you better behave, mutt. I don’t want to have to muzzle you.” Sam said with glee. Ren’s growls only raised in volume, before a door was opened, and Doc stepped into the crowded room. Ren looked up, his blue eyes staring into soulless red and black pits. Doc’s eyes carried no sympathy for their wounded friend, nor the usual sense of mischief the hybrid gave off. Cub was pulled from Ren’s arms, thrown over Doc’s shoulder’s.

“Follow.” Doc ordered, and Ren slowly stood up. 

Ren let out a loud whine when pain shot up his hip. He fell back down onto the ground, hand holding the area as fiery hot pain shot out in all directions. His teeth were bared from the pain, tears slipping down his face involuntarily. Doc watched him with his little freak out, before kneeling down. “Where?” He asked, “Where did you fall?”   
  
“My hip. I-I think its dislocated.” Ren said, and Doc nodded. He took Ren by the leg, slowly moving it up. He watched the wolf howl in pain, before Doc quickly popped the hip back into place. 

“There. Should stop hurting in an hour.”    
  
Ren was howling still, fat tears falling from his face. Doc just chuckled cruelly. “You’re such a baby.” He said, before scooping Ren up into his arms. 

Ren tried to growl at Doc, to fight back and to. You know.  _ NOT _ be kidnapped. 

But the familiar scent calmed his nerves. Doc and him were pack members. Ren’s heightened scent of smell was able to decent his more natural scent of gunpowder, a slight tinge of ash, as well as the faint hint of the cologne he usually wore, one he probably had not had access too in a while. A cologne of what smelled like Orange and cinnamon. A cologne that smelt like home. 

Ren found himself calm in Doc’s arms, although he knew he should not be. “What did he do to you?” Ren asked softly, his voice entangled with pain that was still jutting up from his hip. “What did that bastard tell you?”

“Sam helped me see the wrong i’ve done. He’s improved me.” Doc said coldly, not even glancing down at Ren as he said it. Cubs legs were over Rens, as Doc was carrying Ren princess style. “And we’re going to improve you both too. We’re just having some troubles with the bearded one.”    
  
“Bearded one-? You mean Iskall?” Ren asked, as Doc emerged from the hole that took them back to the surface. Doc didn’t answer anymore questions. He stood still, watching Sam. Sam nodded to him with a wide grin. 

“Oh good! You came peacefully! I don’t know if I’d like what I’d have to do if you hadn’t.” Sam said, starting to walk calmly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a communicator right now. So we can’t teleport.” Sam huffed. 

“...Does that mean I can weasel information- I mean- Ask you some questions?” Ren asked, and thankfully Sam was a dumbass.    
  
“Of course! We’re friends now right?”   
  
___   
  
Etho frowned deeply. No. No this couldn’t be right. Doc was working with that guy? He moved from his spot above the trees. They hadn’t been far from his base honestly, they heard Ren screaming and went to investigate. There he saw Sam, a guy who he had seen was causing a bit of a stir within the server, and Doc. He had watched Ren and Cub fall into the hole, and watch them be dragged out of it. 

He turned away from them. Doc was working with the enemy. Now Doc was an enemy. Etho looked down at his sword, and briefly thought about killing them both and getting Ren and Cub back, but decided against it. He had to know where the two were working from. 

Etho then took the following them, first on the tree tops, then moving on on foot. They had walked to Keralis’s city, and he watched them pause, make a few boats, before they started their trek. “So they don’t have elytras? Interesting.” Etho mumbled allowed, equipping said utility before taking off with the help of rockets. 

He followed them slowly, hovering high above them in the sky, and dipping into the clouds whenever Doc looked up. He got a trident thrown at him a few times, but none landed. Etho looked around to see where they were. 

The group he was following landed on shore. They were by XB’s base. He followed them still, in the sky as they started towards a larger mountain, and Etho landed on the floating house within XB’s base, watching them still.    
  
**_You whispered to XB: Dude this guy is staying by you’re house. I’d watch out if I were you._ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** **_XB whispered to you: What??? What guy? That Sam guy Grian is afraid of?_ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** Etho didn’t reply back watching the group suddenly disappear. He cursed loudly, flying off o try and find them. “Where could they have gone?! Did Doc make a stasis chamber or something?? This doesn’t make sense!” Etho growled. He landed carefully on top of the mountain. Looking around, he saw no one. 

Reluctantly, Etho pulled up his communicator.    
  
**_Ethoslab: Guys. Bad news_ **

**_Ethoslab: Doc joined Sam_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im alive!! Sorry, These past few weeks have been kicking my ass! Also this chapter goes out to @Inexperienced_Idiot, who managed to guess what was coming up, partially at least, lol.


	7. Red Sea of change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is the title over dramtic for the content in this chapter?
> 
> Yes. One hundred percent. 
> 
> Do I find it funny? Yes. one hundred percent.

“Bloody hell why am i doing this?!” Came a hushed mutter. A dull glow coated the mans hands, a pulsating red. The powder had engrained itself into his hands, it had a long time ago. Redstone was a mineral that infected things. Powered things. And his own hands had become infected with the stone. 

Not that it really mattered, It only meant he didn’t get shocked when working with it. Downside is, it usually short circuited any robotic parts his hands came in contact with. 

A loud sigh left him, and he unbuttoned his dress shirt, tying the sleeves around his waist as sweat dripped down his temple. “Blimey, this is going to be so much more difficult than I thought. Who knew making this many tunnel borers would be this difficult?” He asked himself. 

He was deep down in the ground, with tunnel borers above and below him. He was going to blow up the entire underground area of the server, searching for Sam. Was this dumb? Yes. Did he have a plan for if and when he found him?

Oh absolutely not. 

He also may have uh… borrowed. Things from his business partner Iskall. And Bdubs. And anyone who had any redstone stuff laying around. 

He’d pay them back!!!! Its just this seemed a little more important than their made up economy. He needed to help Grian. His best friend. He needed to save Iskall. Doc.  _ Everyone _ . And He thought he knew how. Could he fight? Absolutely not. But who needs fighting when you can just blow everything up and be done with it? 

He heard via his communicator that Bdubs had been abe to rejoin the server, He hadn’t, however, seen Etho’s message. He had left his communicator in a shulker box, same with his suit top. He had rolled his dress pants up like shorts, as the closer he got to bedrock the hotter it became. His face was flushed with heat, black hair which was once neatly gelled back was now stuck to the sides of his face. He downed another bottle of water, moving back and sitting down on top of a shulker shell. He looked ahead of him. He had been working on these for the past few days. 

Mumbo closed his eyes. When was the last time he slept? Ate something? He didn’t exactly know. He strapped on his elytra, looking straight up. He had tunneled directly down by the world border, and faced the borers away from it. If anyone could find them. He could. 

He grabbed his communicator, opening it up and reading boredly over the messages. He then typed out.    
  
**_MumboJumbo: I need five people at the following coords._ **

**_MumboJumbo has sent coordinates_ **

**_MumboJumbo: Preferably people who can fight in some way._ ** **_  
_ ** **_  
_ ** **_Grian: Wait why? Is Sam attacking you?_ **

**_MumboJumbo: Hope not._ **

_____

Iskall was in pain. His arm hadn’t been returned to him, his cybernetic eye had been opened up for Sam to get at, and he was restrained. The Iskallium that powered him had been removed, and he was barely surviving. Xisuma had been yelling at Sam, begging him to put the Iskallium back. How he’d die if it wasn’t put back. 

He couldn’t live without the gem’s power anymore. His heart kept skipping a beat, his eyes closing and threatening to never open again. He couldn’t move his fingers, the skin becoming cold. His vision was blurry, he couldn’t see anything, even when Sam’s hands were a few inches from his eye. 

“Iskall. Come on friend. Stay awake for me.” Xisuma pleaded, his voice cracking and raw from his yelling. “Please. I know its hard. But I know you can do it.” 

“I’ll… befin’.” Iskall mumbled, blankly looking up at the ceiling. The door creaked open once again, and Iskall shuddered when he heard Sam’s voice. Sam was talking to Doc. 

Doc. God. Iskall hoped Doc was actually okay. He hoped that Doc wasn’t hurt, or hurting like he was. He couldn’t see, but he heard Xisuma yelling out again. He only could hear his tone, not his voice anymore. God, he was so tired. 

“ISKALL!” Ren’s voice made him jump, and Ren was by his side.    
  
“Ren?” Iskall mumbled.    
  
“Yeah! Yeah I’m here babe.” Ren said, his hand touching the exposed wire on his face. “What did he do to you?” Ren muttered, and Iskall felt water drip onto his face. 

Ren turned, glaring at Sam. “What did you do?!” 

“Took the Iskallium from him.” Xisuma said. Ren growled, teeth sharpening.    
  
“Put it back! He’ll die without it!” Ren said, and Doc walked up to him. The 6’3 creeper hybrid didn’t show any emotion, his face neutral as he held up the green gem. 

“Was gettin’ him a new one when you found me.” Doc explained. Ren and Xisuma breathed a sigh of relief. Ren stepped to the side as Doc’s skilled hands went back to helping Iskall. “It was nearly dead when I looked at him.” He explained. Ren nodded, watching Doc put the small shard into its new resting place. 

Iskall felt electricity shock him to life. His hands were still cold, but his good eye focused in on Doc’s face, his other still broken and unable to be used. He felt so tired still, his body shaking as he tried to glare. 

__

Sam was grinning still, now holding Cub over his shoulder as he grabbed Ren by the wrist. Iskall watched Sam drag them away. It wasn’t permanent. No! Sam wanted these people to be freed from Grian. 

He and Doc had built another room, filled with beds. He set Cub down onto a bed, the other still unconscious. Sam splashed a regen potion over the Vex. “There we go! He should wake up soon!” Sam beamed, walking back towards the door as he let go of Ren. “Take care of him for now, okay friend?” Sam smiled, and left the room. The door locked behind him. Ren growled a little, but turned to Cub. He limped over to him, sitting on the bed beside him with a low whine. His hip hurt so badly. It throbbed with heated pain, but he knew he’s been through worse. He sighed, slowly transforming. 

Ren was, pretty obviously, a werewolf. A large one at that. His hands became large paws, his mouth and jaw becoming a fluffy muzzle. Ren moved to be on all fours as soon as the transformation was complete. He limped over to Cub, getting onto the bed and curling his large form around the other, guarding him from any harm.    
  
He whimpered a little, nudging him to see if hed wake up. He wasn’t getting a response. But Cub wasn’t dead, his body didn’t vanish like it usually did. And the regen potion seemed to be working. He placed his head by Cub’s, his neck around the top of the bald mans head. He just whimpered, worried and honestly?   
  


He was scared. 

__

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BUILT ALL THESE?!” Scar yelled shocked as he looked at the tunnel borers. Grian, Scar, False, Tango, and Bdubs had all gone to Mumbo’s call for help. The man looked a mess. He was sweating in the middle of a tundra biome, with his shirt off. They were underground now, looking through all the tunnel borer’s Mumbo had created. 

“I mean this where I’ve been that past few days. Have none of you noticed I vanished?” Mumbo asked. The group went silent. 

“So-uh- anyways.” False said, clearing her throat. “What exactly do you want us to do?” 

“Well for these to run properly, the chunks need to be loaded. So, I need each of you to mandate one level of this, theres six of them. You can usually run two at a time. The process is… slow. As ever. But it’ll work if his base is underground.”

“And what if one of us finds it and the others are too far away to hear us?” Bdubs asked. Mumbo paused, his brain trying to catch up with the question. 

“We could all wear our headsets and then get on call. That way we can talk to each other without Sam seeing the chat.” False suggested, and they all agreed that was probably the best decision. 

Grian was stationed in the middle of the rows, y level 30. False was on level 40, Scar 20, Mumbo on level 10, Tango on y level 50, and Bdubs was on the surface. 

_ “Alright. All you have to do is update the main observer by putting a block in front of the quote un quote ‘face’. Now note, this isn’t a fast solution. Xisuma won’t allow mods. But I mean,,, If Gria-” _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “No. Im not adding mods in Mumbo.”  _

_ “Ha get recked.”  _

_ “Falsie that wasn’t nice.”  _

_ “Shush.”  _

_ “Anyways! Update the observer in 5… 4… 3… 2… one. GO!”  _

At the same time, everyone, save for Bdubs, placed a block in front of the face on the observer. If this process is wrong don’t blame Mumbo, blame the author of this who doesn’t know Redstone. 

Wait what author?

Mumbo shook his head. Weird thought to have but alright. Anyways. 

He watched his machines bore through the stone, and he boredly collected any resources that the machine might reveal. 

_ “Wow this is… so anti climatic.”  _ Grian’s voice came through the headset. 

_ “Yea it is. But would you rather dig this out by hand?” _

_ “Fair point fair point. I’ve done enough digging for the mansion.” _

_ “Oh god the big dig- ugh. Nightmare.”  _ Scar griped, And False laughed.    
  
_ “You boys got nothing on this queen.”  _ She said.  _ “Have you guys seen my base?” _

_ “Wait no what is it like?”  _ Grian asked, and the group started discussing builds and different digging related projects they’ve done. Mumbo just listened to them talk, smiling a small bit.    
  
___   
  
Ren had fallen asleep, only to wake up when he felt the Vex beside him move. His eyes opened, and he looked down. Cub had curled into him unconsciously, just seeking out warmth. Ren chuckled a little, nuzzling him further. Mhm. Cuddles. 

“Mhm?” Cub groaned a little, and Ren shot up. His brown colored tail wagged furiously behind him. “Ren?” the others eyes slowly opened, and Ren barked a little. Cub slowly sat up. “What happened? Why are you in your wolf form?” He asked, rubbing the back of his head. Ren looked at it quickly, seeing the scar that indicated the Vex probably cracked his skull. Ren whined, unable to speak in this form as he nosed at the scar. “Huh?” 

Cub reached behind him, touching at the puffed up scar on the back of his head. “Wait what?!” Cub yelped, and Ren nodded a little. He whined a bit, and Cub took off his labcoat. 

Ren started the human transformation process again, and Cub swiftly covered him with his labcoat. “When did this happen??” 

“When we fell into that pit I guess. But wouldn’t you have died with a scar like that?”   
  
“Yes????” Cub asked. “Wait is the server on hardcore now?” Cub asked. Ren shrugged. 

  
“Why does that matter-?” Ren asked. Cub shook his head.    
  
“Nevermind then. Nothing we can do now.” 


	8. In the Mines

_ “Mumboooo. Is there any way to make this go faster?”  _ Grian called out boredly through his mic. Mumbo chuckled with a yawn. 

_ “Unfortunately not G. Unless you wanna risk blowing the machine up.”  _

_ “It be faster to just mine ahead and explode shit.”  _ False commented. 

It had been a few hours, and everyone was bored as hell. Sure they found a few caves, ran into mobs, ect.ect. But it was nothing too exciting. Everyone was getting restless. It was easy to tell. Bdubs had to make a few trips down in order to make sure those on the lower levels didn’t die of thirst. 

Mumbo sat down in a heap. He was sweating heavily at this point, feeling numb. His vision was starting to spin, and he messaged Bdubs to grab him some more water, as he had ran out. He heard mumbles in the back of his head, and at first chalked them up to hallucinations. The explosions that had been a steady heartbeat in his brain had begun to fade out. The heat of lava around him made the area uncomfortably warm, the air thin. 

He closed his eyes, his limbs feeling heavy all of the sudden. Mumbo blinked, looking up. He saw two figures above him, one smiling and the other he couldn’t tell. “Mm..? Doc-?” He mumbled. But his vision blacked out, and he fell limp into someones arms. 

__

Sam was grinning widely, watching as Doc picked up the unconscious hermit. The hermit was large in Doc’s arms. Lanky and clearly not in the best condition. Sam looked him over, his gaze brightening at the reddened hands of the redstoner. “Oh whats this-?” He asked, grabbing the others hand. He gasped as he was shocked. 

“His hands are infected with redstone. Their dangerous weapons.” Doc said numbly. Sam just nodded along, starting to type on Bdubs’s communicator.    
  
“HEY!” They both looked up at the yell, only for someone’s foot to drive themselves into Sam’s face, driving him into the ground. “Let go. Of my friend.” 

Etho stood up, holding onto a netherite sword. Doc starred at him, as footsteps of others rang out heavily. Etho’s face was cold, and he hated to aim his weapon at a friend, but he had no choice. 

“Etho when did you-?!” Grian yelled, poking his head out and down the hole. He flew down swiftly enough upon not seeing anyone. False and Tango followed suit. 

Sam growled, Etho’s foot still firmly on his face. He looked up as he saw Grian, False, and Tango fly down. 

“I’ve been following these bastards for the last few hours.” Etho said. Grian went pale, and both False and Tango stood in front of him. 

“Gree-on you bastard!!” Sam growled, trying to get up and out from under Etho. Etho glared down at him, pressing his foot father into Sam’s face. “Get the fuck off me!” Sam yelled, glancing up at Etho. 

Doc was quiet through all this, lowering Mumbo down onto the ground. Etho nodded. “Glad to know you’re still in theRE-!” Etho yelped as he was tackled onto the ground. 

Sam jumped back up, rubbing his face. He turned to face Grian, going to attack the strawberry blond. False stepped forward, sword blocking Sam’s own. Grian backed up a little, his legs shaking as he watched Doc and Etho brawl on the floor, and Sam and Falsie fought. 

Grian looked at Mumbo on the ground, before rushing through the chaos and going to pick him up. “Grian-!” Tango yelped, going to help the other. Grian swiftly pulled Mumbo onto his back, rushing before using his elytra to get out of there. He flew straight up, one hand holding onto rockets while the other gripped onto Mumbols wrist. In the chaos he forgot about Scar and Bdubs, just trying to fly to safe location. 

He glanced behind him, seeing Tango flying a few feet under him, ready to catch Mumbo if he were to fall. The two ducked behind a hill, setting Mumbo onto the snowy ground. The two glanced from each other to the unconscious and flushed hermit. Before they just. Started piling nearby snow onto him, nearly frantically in order to wake him up. They probably didn’t have much time. 

“Come on. Mumby. Come on.” Grian muttered, checking the hermits pulse before he was suddenly greeted by frantic red eyes. 

“Huh-?! Gria-? Why am i covered in snow this is sO COLD-!” Mumbo jumped up, shivering and trying to get the snow off him. Tango and Grian sighed a breath of relief. 

“Thank god you’re not dead.” Tango muttered, before plopping down an ender chest and handing the taller hermit a spare elytra. “Come on. Sam found us, we got to get Grian away from them.” Tango said, and Mumbo glanced around. His limbs still felt heavy, and he was heavily debating on just eating handfuls of snow to satisfy his thirst. But he grabbed a stash of rockets from his inventory, and the trio sped off without another word. 

___

False gasped and bent backwards, barely missing a swing of a sword. A loud yell ripped past her lips when said sword drew its way into her thigh. She was shoved onto her back, her leg bleeding heavily now. False shot her uninjured leg up, driving her steel toed boot into Sam’s crotch. She swiftly turned onto her stomach, pushing up and onto her knees as Sam bent down, clutching himself in pain. She turn swiftly kicked at his head. 

Glancing up, she caught a glimpse of Doc and Etho, who were fairly even matched despite the size difference. Etho had claw marks over his face, hair messy and blood dripping down and into his mask. Even through the fabric it seemed like Etho was snarling, trying to talk his best friend out of the hypnotized state he seemed to be in. 

She didn’t get to watch for two long though, as a sword was stabbed yet again into her leg. She looked down, seeing Sam with his iron sword driven into her. She glared, her hand raised in a fist before she heard the tell tale sign of a splash potion being thrown, and her vision started to spin, her body swayed with the nausea effect. How did Sam get that? 

False felt the sword being removed from her leg, and as if that was the only thing holding her up, she fell onto her knees. 

“False!” She heard Etho shout, and a hand on her shoulder before it was ripped away. She looked towards him yet again, unable to focus as everything spun worse and worse. She reached her hand out to him, before another splash, and everything went black for her. 

Etho’s growl grew louder, his arms pinned behind himself and against Doc’s large chest. He was on his knees, trying to pull away from Doc’s grip to help protect Falsie. He could fight these two by himself if they just fought fairly. His gaze looked back to Doc, eyes glaring. But they softened as he noted the silent tears that fell from his eyes. 

“Doc, let me go. Let me help her.” Etho said, and Doc was unable too. He felt the more human, fleshy hand on his arm release its grip, but the robotic one gripped tighter as if to make up for it. 

“Im sorry.” He heard the other whisper. “I’m so sorry Etho. I don’t want to do this. But I can’t stop. Please. Help me.” The other sounded utterly distraught. Etho nodded, silently promising himself that he would find a way to fix this. 

“Well well well!” Sam said, kicking the unconscious body of False. “Another two for one deal!” Sam’s voice was filled with a twisted joy. One that made Etho want nothing more than to drop kick him a second time. He glared at him, breaking his gaze from Doc. 

“You are one sick bastard.” Etho growled, and Sam sighed. He walked closed to the other, grabbing him by the face Etho and the other made eye contact, brown eyes staring gleefully into hardened blue ones. 

“Oh you shouldn’t be saying that to a new friend!” Sam said, his lips pulling into a mocking pout. Sam’s gaze then locked onto the mask over Etho’s mouth. “Why are you wearing this thing?” Sam asked idly, and Etho pulled his head away from Sam’s grip. 

“None of your fucking buisness.” Etho growled. Sam took a step back, looking Etho and Doc up and down. “But if you excuse me.” Etho’s voice turned smug, and with a flash of purple particles, he was behind Sam. “I got to get my friend to a secondary location.” He winked, fulfilling his urge of drop kicking Sam a second time, before grabbing hold of False. Another flash of purple particles, and the two were gone. 

Etho was in the exploded layer above Sam and Doc, False below him and his body pressing against hers. He used some debris to hide her bright blond hair incase they climbed back up. His grin grew wicked as he listened. 

“Where the fuck did he go?!”

“I don’t know.” 

A loud slap rang out, before Sam was heard growling. “You knew that bitch was just as much a freak as you, didn’t you you fucking coward?!” Sam’s voice was harsh, and it took every ounce of control within Etho’s being to not get pissed, to teleport back down there and beat the everliving shit out of Sam. He glanced down at False, who was starting to stirr. He put his hand over her mouth, covering her quiet groans of confusion. 

Etho listened as the one sided conversation suddenly vanished. He paused still, waiting to see if anything else arose before finally getting up and off of False. With a sharp and calculated gaze, he looked over her wounds. He pulled off his mask, which was really just a bandana, and wrapped it tight around her thigh. He licked his lips, his mouth faintly glowing in the dark area. He soon pulled False onto his back, and started teleporting again. He could only teleport places he knew of, and in short distances. 

It also usually wore him out. He hated it. 

___

Grian, Mumbo, and Tango soon found their way to Iskall’s industrial district. They swooped into the nether portal there, before flying through the nether highway and towards the main hub. The three were silent, focused on fleeing. They took sharp turns and he wind was harsh against their faces as they reached the main hub, flying through a portal without second thought. 

They entered Grian’s base, the three of them collapsing onto the wooden ground and panting. The wood felt cool on their heads, the droning chatter of villagers filling the air once again. Tango slowly sat up, sighing and checking his communicator. To see if anyone had died. Thankfully, no one had. He looked up at Grian and Mumbo, and his relieved expression turned to one of concern. 

Grian had crawled onto Mumbo’s lap, sobbing and shaking. He was clinging onto the others bare skin, his face pressed into the crook of Mumbo’s neck. “I thought I lost you.” grian whimpered. “I saw you passed out and Doc carrying you and I just. I don’t know what I’d do if you turned on me too.” Grian’s voice was quiet, and Mumbo let out a silent sigh. He wrapped his arms around the shaking hermit, swaying them back and fourth. 

“It’s alright mate. I would never hurt you. Okay? No matter what happens. I’m right here for you. I’ll always be here for you.” Mumbo said gently. Tango grinned. 

“Awww. Look at you two, bein’ all cute and stuff!” He cooed, and Mumbo rolled his eyes with a tiny smile. “But hey G! Look! Everythin’s okay! No one died and it seems like everyone got out fine!” Tango moved over to be beside the two, showing Grian his communicator. Grian nodded, although clearly not okay still. “G?” He asked. Grian suddenly pushed away from Mumbo, wiping the tears from his eyes. 

“I’m giving myself in.” 


End file.
